The fully autonomous car just took a giant step closer to reality as Jaguar announced a major new partnership with Waymo, formerly Google’s self-driving car skunkworks. Together they are positioning the hot new I-Pace electric vehicle firmly at the pointy end of the next frontier in mobility. Waymo has confirmed plans to buy up to 20,000 I-Pace electric cars, with the aim of delivering one million rides per day in its driverless cars by 2020.

The collaboration is the first time an all-electric car has been integrated into a commercial ride-hailing service. "The I-Pace is the world’s first premium electric car. It’s the self-driving car that car lovers have been waiting for," Waymo’s CEO John Krafcik said, in a reveal this morning in Manhattan, ahead of the New York auto show. "Our technology has gone through what we regard as the toughest driving test in the world. Our cars have covered five million autonomous miles on roads in 25 different American cities. In addition, they have travelled five billion miles in simulations, and have been subjected to 20,000 individual tests in Waymo’s test ‘city’.”

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The tech company has been running a major test programme in Phoenix, Arizona, for over a year, in an area covering 100 square miles, approximately a sixth of the total road network in the city. The programme will be intensified later this year. Previously using Chrysler’s Pacifica people-carrier and Google’s pod car – dubbed the "clown car" by some – and even a giant Peterbilt truck, the addition of the I-Pace is a crucial step forward both for Waymo but even more so for Jaguar, as it becomes the first established OEM to take the EV fight to Tesla and take the high ground as a whole new model of personal mobility established itself.

Krafcik also noted that Waymo is on the verge of "shifting focus from research and development to operations. The ultimate goal is self-driving vehicles tailored to every trip and purpose."

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The subject is particularly relevant at the moment, following the death of Elaine Herzberg, the poor soul who stepped into the path of an Uber-run autonomous Volvo XC90 10 days ago. "We’ve been working on this tech for almost a decade. In our view, it’s the world’s longest ongoing driving test. Our focus is on creating the world’s most experienced driver. Our riders’ safety is the overwhelming priority for all of us at Waymo," Krafcik said.

On Waymo’s targets, he added: "There are four main applications. Ride-hailing, tracking and logistics, 'last mile' connectivity to the existing public transport infrastructure, and licensing our tech."

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Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover’s CEO, described the deal as a major boost for the company as it enters the rapidly-evolving EV market. "This is about choice. You can either shape the future or be shaped by it. We want to provide the right mobility service at the right time. When you are stuck in a traffic jam, the car can drive itself. But when you want to take the wheel yourself, you can."

When GQ raised the spectre of privacy, following Facebook’s recent giant data breach, Krafcik remained sanguine. "As we roll out the service, our riders will be very clear what they are signing up to," he replied.

The partnership is another sign of the seismic changes that are about to engulf the car business. But as one senior Jaguar source admitted, "we want to disrupt ourselves rather than let someone else do the disrupting."